


fire-jumping

by templemarker



Category: Frontier Wolf - Rosemary Sutcliff
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-04
Updated: 2015-06-04
Packaged: 2018-04-02 19:40:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4072138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/templemarker/pseuds/templemarker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Is this what you wanted, when you roused me? Did the fires of the Attacotti stir this in you?" He pushed Alexios' hands back down, stared at him like a wolf with its prey.</p>
            </blockquote>





	fire-jumping

**Author's Note:**

  * For [amyfortuna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/amyfortuna/gifts).



It was hot in his cell, the papery screen in the window propped against the wall. A sultry summer breeze prickled the sweat on Hilarion's skin, and Alexios wiped it away with his thumb. At Hilarion's look, he brought it to his lips and licked away the salt, enjoying the huff of breath and cut of Hilarion's eyes. 

"It's too hot for that," Hilarion said, waving at Alexios as if to cool off whatever ardor he might find there. 

"Too hot for what?" Alexios said, innocent in a way he hadn't been in a very long time--as Hilarion well knew, for he'd wrung whatever innocence he could find from Alexios' body when they'd finally come to one another. 

Hilarion closed his eyes and panted, shoving the linen beneath his neck to tilt his head back. Alexios watched the fine, lean line of his neck, the slow curve of the bump at his throat. Hilarion tilted back like that--it gave a man ideas. A slow fuck didn't have to be too heated after all. 

Hilarion's eyes opened up into slits. "No," he said, "that. None of that. I'm already exhausted from repairing the bridge all day; we had to haul the logs down ourselves with the horses being fettled, as you well know. You arduous taskmaster, you."

Alexios clambered over Hilarion's prone body, arms and legs boxed around him. "What if I have another task for you?" he asked, trying to quash his smile, knowing he failed. 

"It's a good thing I found you before you tried a line like that on some poor woman," Hilarion said, eyes closed again. He stretched, seemingly not caring for the places where hot skin touched hot skin. Alexios roved his eyes where bare skin was revealed from Hilarion's tunic, brown from the summer sun and slightly burnt in places. He wanted to put his mouth there, lave any hurt away. Another stretch, and somehow Hilarion's tunic rode up to reveal his belly, the soft flesh around his ribs. Alexios sat back on his heels, fingers tangling in the linens to prevent him from touching. _Not yet, not yet_ , something sang in his blood. It'll be better it he waits, waits for Hilarion to itch with the same heat in his blood that Alexios feels rushing through him at the sight of his lover, his friend. 

"It's a good thing you found me," Alexios agreed, and ducked low enough that he could blow air across Hilarion's exposed skin, watch the hair on his stomach be disturbed, watch him shudder without Alexios' touch. 

Hilarion opened his eyes only to roll them. "Fine," he huffed, "if you insist."

Alexios cocked his head, smothering his grin; he was certain his eyes gave him away, though, and besides--Hilarion could read him like the papyri littering the desk. He was a lucky man. 

"What do you mean?" he said, sitting back again. 

With a growl, Hilarion grasped Alexios around the middle and hauled him down, flipping so that he was now crouched around Hilarion. He pushed Alexios' wrists to the linen, and Alexios flexed his arms just to see how well Hilarion would hold him back. 

Hilarion's eyes shone in the light of the fire-lights, sweat beaded on his upper lip. He ground down against Alexios, making them both gasp, hot, humid air filling their lungs. "You know very well, you cruel man," he said, teasing. "Don't pretend with me," he continued, leaning down to swipe at Alexios' lips, bite his earlobe. "I know all your tells," he whispered into the shell of Alexios' ear, making him pant and buck against Hilarion. 

Hilarion only moved his knees between Alexios' legs, pushing them so they were wider, until Alexios' knees bracketed Hilarion's own body. The rules were different in the north. The rules were different amongst the Frontier Wolves, _Romanitas_ a far away call when there was a louder song of the men, Alexios' men, here at the fort. 

"You know me," Alexios said, brave in that moment, held by Hilarion. He knew Hilarion too. 

"Yes," Hilarion said, growing serious for a moment, eyes locked to Alexios' own, and the noises of summer at dusk faded away for a bright moment, there between the two of them, shadowed in the flames of the brazier. Hilarion released his hands, and Alexios felt bereft only for a moment as Hilarion ducked down, kissing him with both hands cradling his head. 

Alexios loved this most of all, even knowing he wasn't meant to. Every press of lips, every graze of tongue felt as though it was rippling through his body. This felt closer, intimate, as if bringing Hilarion inside this part of himself made them something of a single body. The sweat grew between them, and Hilarion pulled away only for Alexios to follow. Hilarion grinned crookedly, pulling off his tunic, and a moment later four hands were working at them hem of Alexios' tunic until there was only sun-warmed skin touching at every point and Alexios couldn't smother the noise that shuddered out of him. 

"Quiet, quiet," Hilarion murmured, and then kissed him again as if to make sure. 

Alexios ran his hands up and down Hilarion's back, every familiar bend and line; he loved the wings of Hilarion's shoulder blades, the dip of his back. Each touch drew more sweat from Hilarion's skin until Alexios felt he was covered by Hilarion, his scent and feel and breath. 

Pulling back, moving to Alexios' neck, Hilarion said lowly, "Is this what you wanted, when you roused me? Did the fires of the Attacotti stir this in you?" He pushed Alexios' hands back down, stared at him like a wolf with its prey. 

Alexios struggled against the hold, wanting to touch, wanting to feel, but it was clear Hilarion would not let him go without an answer. 

"There is always a fire," he confessed into the banked space between them. "There is always a stirring." His heart pounded, and Hilarion released him only to put a hand on his chest, as if feeling the hot pulse of Alexios' blood for himself.

"So it is for me," he said simply, drawing his hand lower until Alexios panted and writhed beneath him again.


End file.
